David’s Sling is the middle tier of Israel’s air defense apparatus, designed to counter medium to long-range rockets.
Amidst its ongoing war in Gaza, Israel continues to make strides in its air defense technologies. This week, the Jewish state completed a series of live-fire tests on upgrades to its David’s Sling system. As part of this achievement, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that the new tests “represent another significant breakthrough in upgrading the system.” Additionally, the Ministry of Defense quoted the head of its research and development directorate, noting that “The system’s latest upgrade represents another significant milestone, expanding our operational response range. The testing integrated new capabilities across a wide range of challenging scenarios, with the system demonstrating outstanding performance against diverse advanced threats.”
As the middle-tier of Israel’s multi-layered defense apparatus, David’s Sling has been operational for years. Specifically, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has leaned on the air defense system, along with the Iron Dome and Arrow 2/3, to achieve its war objectives against Iran and its regional proxy groups. In fact, Israeli officials confirmed that David’s Sling successfully intercepted ballistic missiles fired from Iran back in June.
An Overview of David’s Sling
David’s Sling is a product of a joint venture between IDF contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US-based contractor Raytheon. While the air defense system did not reach operational capacity until 2017, its conception dates back almost a decade. David’s Sling was designed to serve in conjunction with the Iron Dome and Arrow System. The Dome functions as the lowest tier in Israel’s air defense apparatus, capable of intercepting short-range rockets and other projectiles. As the upper tier, Arrow 2/3 is designed to intercept longer-range ballistic missiles, including some that operate outside of Earth’s atmosphere. David’s Sling is the middle tier in this layered defense approach, initially designed to be capable of countering the threat of medium to long-range rockets with ranges between 43 and 155 miles.
The crux of David’s Sling is its Stunner interceptor. This two-stage missile employed a three-pulse solid propellant motor to reach a top speed of Mach 7.5 (times the speed of sound). As detailed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Stunner takes out its targets by striking them directly, rather than using a warhead. “The missile’s asymmetric, ‘dolphin-shaped’ nose features two sensors for terminal guidance: a combined electro-optical/imaging infrared (EO/IR) sensor and a radar seeker for all-weather performance. For midcourse guidance, the missile receives updates from the system’s ground-based radar via an onboard datalink. Each Stunner missile costs an estimated $1 million to produce,” as explained by CSIS. Manufacturer Raytheon has previously claimed that the Stunner is proven to defeat at least 92 percent of the worldwide theater ballistic missile threat inventory, along with the SkyCeptor variant of the weapon.
Considering Israel’s proximity to hostile actors who wish to see its demise, maintaining a top-tier air defense approach is a no-brainer. Since Hamas launched its 2023 invasion, thousands of missiles, rockets, and drones have targeted Israel. Thanks to David’s Sling, along with the Iron Dome and Arrow systems, the majority of these projectiles have been thwarted.
About the author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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